British police is very active in getting media coverage. A public relations officer from Metropolitan Police in London gave a lecture at the University of Greenwich last week and introduced an example of producing a news story.
After Rio MacFarlane, 18, was shot to death in September last year, the police released on YouTube a video message by Rio Ferdinand, a British famous football player, asking for information and witness. MacFarlane was a talented football player. The police worked with the Sun which gained an exclusive interview with Ferdinand.
It is surprising for me that the police are working like a journalist, except that they would not report anything negative to the police. When I worked as a crime reporter for six years in Japan, police looked passive. I can't imagine Japanese police would ask murder victims' family or friend to appear in public. They are very careful not to become too intimate with a particular media, while they seem to hold the traditional way of thinking that their duty is to arrest the criminals. They officially give journalists minimum piece of information and repeat, "no comment on that because of privacy of the victim".
As social media has developed, why don't all the police take advantage of its power to disseminate the news more? Are you afraid of social media or the criminals?
The Metropolitan Police in conjunction The Sun Newspaper have released a unique murder appeal from footballer Rio Ferdinand. Available from YouTube.
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